Forecast: Secrets to a Ravishing Valentine’s Day

This Valentine’s Day has lots of celestial support for romance this year. The Moon is in the lunar nakshatra of Bharani. The symbol for Bharani is the Yoni, the female sex organs (I swear!), and is ruled by Venus, the planet of love, sex, romance, and marriage.

And, if that wasn’t already enough, Venus is in easy, harmonious aspects to the Moon, Mars, and Jupiter. All of which CAN be very romantic if Mars energy is handled properly.

Mars is in the sign of Scorpio, which has long been associated with smoldering sexuality, but Mars in Scorpio is not a romantic planet at all.

It is, however, in a sextile aspect to Venus, another harmonious contact (a sextile is an “opportunity” aspect). Easy Venus and Mars contacts like this are romantic, and intensely sexual too. Venus heals Mars, so this is a quite nice aspect for Valentine’s Day.

But, Mars will be oppositethe Moon, as Taurus and Scorpio are a polarity and are naturally opposite each other. The opposition is not a harmonious aspect, and when it’s in this kind of aspect to the Moon, this is when we can get very hung-up on our ideas of the way things “should” and “shouldn’t” be on Valentine’s Day.

Venus in Capricorn is “exalting” Mars. Exaltation can be nice, when it’s the beginning of a new relationship and when it’s mutual, but it is not built to last and it’s all about our projections onto the other person, which is usually not about who they actually are. It tends to be unrealistic and all about our idealized ideas about love and the perfect partner.

Mars is not exalting Venus, in fact, Mars in Scorpio is considered to be detrimental to Venus and the Moon. In other words, being too adamant about how you expect the day to go is guaranteed to make your partner feel unappreciated and create a miserable day for both of you.

Mars is in a “mute” sign, so he may not actually say anything about it to you in words, but you will feel it in the emotional distance between you.

The Moon is strong in the sign of Taurus and knows what it feels and can express those feelings quite well, but it’s also a bit sensitive and can take things too personally if you’re trying to get ALL your emotional needs met through your partner.

Jupiter is about forgiveness, happiness, and a higher “big picture” perspective, but in Virgo he’s not as strong and able to produce fully. He’s further hampered by Rahu hanging around and causing some confusion and/or chaotic intensity interfering with Jupiter’s ability to bring perspective.

Jupiter is also harmoniously aspecting Mars, and that is a positive combination, though Jupiter is much weaker than Mars, and not as able to bring his gentler influence to bear on Mars’ logical and single-minded focus on using his will to get things done, to impose his will on others, and to enforce what he thinks is right.

The Power We Have to Influence the Outcome

Okay, before you get depressed, here is what you can do to source what you need from within to make Valentine’s Day GREAT, whether you are single or in a relationship!

If you are single, do not allow yourself to dwell on being “alone” with self-punishing “no one will ever love me” thoughts, or thoughts of rage about past lovers (if you DO need to get poisonous thoughts out of your head, keep reading, I talk about that further down).

Being able to make yourself happy first is a major secret to attracting and keeping a great romantic relationship.

Start With Your Body

Ground yourself in your body by doing some exercise, breathing exercises, meditation, a nice pampering bath or shower (groom yourself like you would if you were going out on a date), and dress up, at least a little, starting with the undergarments. You want to feel attractive, feminine, and magnetic.

Put on a little makeup, if you wear it, so you can enjoy looking at yourself whenever you catch your reflection throughout the day. Take a little more time with your hair, put on some perfume and a piece jewelry you like.

Next, Heart & Spirit

Next is journaling to express your thoughts and feelings. This is for your mental, emotional, and spiritual grounding. This is a great place to express your longings, fears, sadness, anger, and to question to your thoughts and beliefs.

Write until you have nothing else to say, usually 15 minutes is enough to diminish the intensity of your negative feelings. Just the act of writing soothes the nervous system and makes you feel better. Write continuously in a stream-of-consciousness way (don’t worry about spelling, punctuation, grammar, or making sense).

Now for the divine, creative part of it. End your journal writing session with what you most love in your life, including the love you receive whether it’s romantic or not (you’re receiving love from the Divine all day long, even when you’re not aware of it), and your positive, creative, intentions for the day (pleasing all of your senses throughout the day for example).

I’ll be doing all of this too as Mars is a very dominant influence in my birth chart (three planets in Aries, including Venus, Rahu in Scorpio, & Mars aspecting the Moon). Whenever a Valentine’s Day was a disappointment to me in the past, it was always because I set myself up by being too stuck on my ideas of the way the day “should” be rather than appreciating what WAS.

Especially if I had not been doing my part to fill myself up from the inside with my self-nurturing spiritual practices first. It’s when you’re self-supporting & self-nurturing regularly that you are most attractive and magnetize romance to you.

Pleasing Your Senses Throughout the Day

TASTE – make all of your meals pleasurable and special. You know your body best and what makes you feel good long-term, so think long-term to feel good all day. If you like chocolate, plan to get something exquisite.

I found that I can’t eat any sugar at breakfast (even too much fruit can be a problem), but can have some with a meal later in the day without any ill effects. Humm, there is a French pastry shop nearby my house…

TOUCH – if you can, get a massage (a Venus remedy)! If you can’t, go someplace where you can touch nice things, such as the mall. Try on something totally luxurious made from feel-good fabrics (another Venus thing) that you wouldn’t normally even consider buying for yourself because you think it’s too expensive or you have no where to wear it. Do it anyway, because you are far more valuable than any thing, no matter how expensive it is.

SMELL – this is an easy one. Get yourself some flowers, perfume, eat or drink foods that smell heavenly to you, or go to a place that sells body lotions, candles, bath products, etc., and enjoy smelling them. Of course, you can use stuff like this when getting dressed in the morning too.

SOUND – music that you love, of course! Start your day with it, listen to it as you dress, write, and during your meals. If you can be in nature, that would be great too. Listening to the birds, the sound of the wind in the leaves of the trees and tall grasses (i really love this), the sound of water, or the sound of fire if you have a campfire, etc.

SIGHT – notice the beauty in everything you can. Look at beautiful art (easy to do now online if you can’t get to a museum or gallery), beautiful clothes, jewelry, makeup, cars, boats, beautiful people, or a visually beautiful, uplifting movie with great music in it.

If it’s possible, arrange to have a meal with someone you enjoy and laugh a lot with. This will go a long way to feeling good as what we most want on Valentine’s Day, or any day, is the feeling of connection with another person, ourselves, the divine, and with life. If you’re in a relationship, of course, sharing a meal can be a highlight of the day.

Back to the Moon in Bharani

The Yoni (female sex organ) is the source of life, literally every single one of us came from our mother’s womb, and the nakshatra of Bharani is about the creative power of sexuality because of the the stars of Bharani are in Aries ruled by Mars, but the nakshatra itself is ruled by Venus. This combination represents creative potential and the dance between the masculine and the feminine.

Yet this nakshatra is called the “star of restraint” which reflects the sense of being entangled in the world of desires and illusions. Strong sexual desires may be experienced here because of the Mars/Venus influences, and tomorrow on Valentine’s Day, it is intensified by the aspects from Venus in Capricorn and Mars in Scorpio too!

If you do have a partner, well, there really is no need for me to point out what you are likely to be doing, right? :-) Let go of any ideas about how it “should” go and you are much more likely to deeply connect on a heart level (Moon and Venus) too, which always makes sex a hundred times better.

Self-nurturing first, and appreciation, not expectation, is the secret to a wonderful, ravishing, Valentine’s Day.

My Ready-for-Love Consultation is perfect as a Valentine’s gift for yourself if you are single and ready to show up 100% for love, or as a couple! If relationships are not working out for you, find out exactly why, and exactly what to do about it, according to your personal love map as shown in your birth chart.

If you are in a relationship, are having trouble & doubts, or would like to take it from okay to great, then this reading is excellent for seeing what is going on, what each partner most needs, what the energetic patterns are (powerful for getting rid of guilt, blame, and shame), and how to keep the tension between the need for security and the need for novelty/excitement balanced.

Just email me (karen@divinetimeastrology.com) and set-up an appointment this month, and receive a surprise BONUS that will enhance your love life (hint: it has to do with auspicious directions, objects, colors in your home, and the most lucky planetary transit periods for you).